


Two Fifteen

by corinneclara



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Spitfire - Freeform, artemis is a bit of a mess tbh, first i love you and all that jazz, just kinda angsty fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 04:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6784909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corinneclara/pseuds/corinneclara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Early morning confessions of love between two dorks who could die saving the world together any time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Fifteen

Her footsteps echoed in the vast hallways of Mount Justice, staccato beats clacking along in time with her racing heartbeat. Artemis could only hope he was still in his room, although she kind of hoped he wouldn't be. She kind of hoped he would disappear from the headquarters altogether, stay with his parents or his uncle for the next week or so - just long enough for her to get a grip on her erratic thoughts and, more importantly, her double-crossing heart. 

She reached his room far too quickly for her liking, and took a deep, calming breath. Then another. And another. Soon she was just standing in the long, dimly lit hallway, staring wide-eyed at Wally's door while she tried not to hyperventilate. This was a terrible idea. Why did she listen to her stupid, stupid feelings? They had never done her right in the past. They had led her to misery when Jade left, had brought her to desperation and revenge when she came to blame her father for just about everything that had ever gone wrong in her life. She had no reason to trust them now.

But trust had nothing to do with her hand slowly creeping towards the door handle, and part of her understood that even as she questioned her own motives. Her feelings were two-faced and manipulative, but they were also honest. They were the kind of brutally honest that gives truths like slaps and advice like stitches on old wounds. And honesty was why Artemis had come rushing down to Wally's bedroom at two in the morning, with no certainty or plan or reassurance anywhere in her mind. The only thing she had was an explanation; one that was far overdue.

She swung the door open to reveal a dark room, the fraction of light from the hall casting long, gray shadows across the walls and on the not-empty bed pushed up against the far corner.

Shit. He was actually there.

Artemis took a hurried step in the room and flicked on the lights, too caught up in her fear and the tirade just waiting to come bursting off her tongue to think about how ridiculous this was. Maybe she should have knocked, or not woken him up at such an ungodly hour of the morning. Maybe she should've kept this whole damn thing to herself.

"Artemis?" Wally croaked, sitting up. He watched her blearily from his spot on the bed, wrapped up in his comforter, as she stood in the corner. She stared back at him like a cornered animal, all wide eyes and restless fear as she began to fidget, twisting her fingers together. Their gazes stayed locked, despite the clear exhaustion in his. 

"What the hell are you doing? What time -"

"Two fifteen," Artemis replied shortly; her harsh tone made her wince. She paced a few steps to the other corner of the room, still staying on the wall farthest from where Wally sat, looking baffled. "It's two fifteen. I don't know why I came, I just - I just have to tell you." She knew she wasn't making any real sense, that she should leave now while she could still deny anything had ever really happened. 

"Tell me what?" Wally's voice was heavy with sleep as he slipped his legs over the edge of the mattress, fully sitting up. He patted the space next to him; Artemis chose to ignore this. She couldn't sit down. Pacing and fidgeting was the only way for her to channel this terrified energy without physically fighting anybody or anything. That had happened the last time she had had to make any kind of serious confession: she'd taken down a classmate, a seriously irritating old colleague of her mother's, half an abandoned factory, and two lamps in the past. Given that the nearest breakable things were Wally and his collection of precious souvenirs, violence wasn't exactly the best option. 

"I - I have to tell you," Artemis began again, still despising the way the words tasted in her mouth. She pushed forward anyway, knowing the taste would only linger if she kept the rest to herself. "I have to tell you something. And it's really important, okay, so don't you dare make a joke out of it." She paused, taking in another of those deep breaths. They didn't seem to be working all that well. "I don't want to keep doing this."

Wally stared at her, confused. "Doing what?"

"This!" Artemis exclaimed, gesturing between them a little more aggressively than probably necessary. "This - us! I don't want to keep - keep playing a game with you!" She choked on the last word and paused, swallowing the lump in her throat. Damn it, Artemis, don't you dare cry, she thought furiously. 

"A game?" Wally seemed fully awake now, green eyes brimming with concern. "What kind of game are you even talking about?"

"This kind!" she said, and she was tempted to strangle him in that moment. "God, Wally, this is not the time for your stupid jokes. This game, where we pretend we don't give a damn but we do but we don't say anything about it! I don't want to play it anymore." Artemis scowled at him, scrubbing angrily at her eyes to keep from doing anything she would regret. Unfortunately it was a bit late, as a few tears had escaped before she could stem the flow. "Damn it!"

"Artemis." Wally's voice was quiet at her side, and his hesitant hand on her arm was careful and warm. "Artemis, c'mon. It's fine, just c'mere." He slowly guided her to the bed, letting her sit before he dropped down next to her, and moved his hand from her arm to her hand, covering it instead of risking his neck by attempting to twine their fingers the way he so wanted to.

"I can't," she whispered, wiping her tears away with all the harshness of cleaning blood from her skin after a battle. 

"Just tell me what happened, okay?" Why was he being so nice? Where was the heartlessness, the deflective sarcasm, the I-don't-give-a-damn attitude that she had been bickering back and forth with for months? Artemis had been depending on finding that teammate when she knocked on his door; not hoping for it, but prepared for it. Kindness, patience - these weren't the things she was ready for when she spoke to Wally West.

"I just - I was thinking about it," she tried to explain. "Cause we always say stuff and act like we don't care, but we do. We do care, Wally, I know it." Her tears hadn't stopped but she had managed to wipe away most of them. Wally was doing his best to ignore the ones still tracing their paths down her cheeks, but he couldn't help noticing that they moved like raindrops racing down a car window, struggling to drip down and pool in her shirt collar. Artemis' voice snapped his tired focus back to her words. "I care anyway. And I  
couldn't - I needed to say it, okay? I had to say something." 

"I can't play the game anymore." She couldn't look him in the eye, instead staring intently at a spot past his left shoulder. "We could die literally any time now, and I can't keep ignoring the fact that I -" Artemis paused, her pulse thrumming in her ears, before pushing through the grand finale, the truth that had been haunting her thoughts until she had forced herself to take this treacherous midnight visit. 

"I care about you, Wally. I think I'm in love with you."

**Author's Note:**

> so that probably wasn't very good at all, but whatever. I wrote this for a prompt thing, and it's completely unedited (sorry about that). maybe doing a part two???? probably not but possibly??? anyway, thank you so much for reading, and feedback is as appreciated as ever. <3 <3


End file.
